scrapyarn

Juice Jar by Ecig Workshop

2011-10-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

In my last post there were a fewdifferent ecig accessories and a mod I mentioned but never elaboratedon. In the spirit of the subject of the previous post, I'm going totalk about the Juice Jar, which is another item created and sold byEcig Workshop.

The Juice Jar is what's known as a tankmod. The guts of a CE2 cartomizer were stuffed into this little jar.Then you fill the little jar full of ejuice, pop the lid on, screw iton your battery, and off you go. I hope that wasn't too technical.

This is a CE2

These are the CE2 guts that go into the Juice Jar

So why is it awesome? Because you can pour, from what I understand, I haven't measured exactly, up to 9ml of juice into it, screw the lid on, and sit and vape away without worrying about refilling. Your ecig battery will die at LEAST twice, probably more, before you need to refill this sucker.

CE2's are easy to come by and not expensive, and swapping out the inner workings is as easy as getting a good grip on the bottom and giving a pull, then pushing the new CE2 up through the bottom of the jar, get it firmly in place, and ready to go!

Because it's a clear jar, it's easy to see when you're running out of juice, and with a lid that so easily screws off and on, it's as easy as that to make sure your coil is staying wet.

The downside is that this thing wasn't built to travel. If you overcame the fact that it's pretty big and wouldn't comfortably fit in your pocket during day to day life anyway, the issue is that CE2 guts in a regular CE2 cartomizer have a little rubber stopper to prevent juice from dripping into the coil, which would flood it. Then it wouldn't fire, and juice would seep through onto your battery and make a big mess. In this design, the rubber stopper isn't touching the coil, so it's wide open. Depending on how much juice you have in it and how far you tip it, you run the risk of flooding your coil.

A solution to this was posted by SteveK at stevevape.com found in this post, but I'm not as determined and simply don't tip the sucker. It sits on one of my big batt mods so it can stand well balanced on the table if it has to be set down. This is my tank of choice when I'm sitting up on the couch watching tv or a movie and don't want to mess around with refilling

Juice Jar atop my Rosewood boxmod, both from Ecig Workshop

And on the Silver Bullet!

The Juice Jar, because it uses a standard CE2, has 510 connection. I rarely deviate from them, all my mods are 510. It's sold for $16.99USD, so it's very affordable, and a very cool little device to have hangin around!

Handcrafted Natural Wood Ecig Mod

2011-10-15T14:40:00.000-04:00

I got a new electronic cigarette mod!I've actually purchased several in the last 3 months, but never didget around to making blog posts (or keeping up with my blog at all)due to ongoing illness.

I don't typically do reviews because Ihave a tendency to go on and on, and I've found with reviews, shortand sweet is key. But I made a promise to the vendor that I wouldgive them feedback, and the main reason I wanted to was because theseare totally handcrafted out of natural wood. I did purchase the mod(with real money, even!) and was placed under no obligation to do areview, but I love supporting crafters, and there may be a few peopleout there who are interested in what I have to say.

The vendor is http://ecigworkshop.com/ You can contact them at ecigworkshop@live.comvia email, or @EcigWorkshop on Twitter.

As far as customer service goes, theseguys rock. I spoke with Paul (via Twitter) and Patti (via email) andthey are just SO sweet you could get cavities. They're superfriendly, extremely helpful, and a bunch of just genuinely nicefolks. I enjoyed every bit of interaction I've had with them, sodon't be shy about getting in touch if you want to ask them anything,they are so great, and were more than willing and able to accommodatemy payment method, because I'm in Canada and don't do credit cards,which makes me a pain in the ass.

So what did I order? I ordered a bigbattery style handcrafted natural wood boxmod with 510 connector.

These mods are made of natural wood,and totally handmade by these guys! There are a lot of options ontheir site. Oak, cherry, walnut, rosewood, among others, and thereare options on their site for different styles. There are 3 differentsizes that I know of: tall and short, which take the 18650 batteries,and dinky, which takes 18350 batteries and is made for more stealthvaping.

The wood is sealed with Butcher's BlockConditioner. This is a good, strong, durable device. While I wouldn'twant to toss it around nilly-willy, it's certainly not going to fallapart and would probably take a fair bit of carelessness to damage,and even more to break. It's kept closed with a TINY littleunobtrusive magnet, but it is a STRONG little magnet that closes itup very tight and won't be accidentally falling open. You can't evensee the seams unless you look up real close. On the other side arethe hinges. When I first looked at the pictures of the mods Iwondered if they would bother me, but the hinges are set flush, so idon't even notice them when I'm going about my business. I choserosewood (I love the rich colour and nice dark veining), tall style.The tall box is a little more narrow than the short style, and I havetiny little girly hands, so it felt like the better option.

Size comparison next to the Silver Bullet. The tank on the SB is actually the juicejar, which can also be purchased from ecigworkshop!

I wanted a big battery box. I have eGobatteries that I use when I'm out and about or stealthing, so if I'mreaching for a mod, I want it to kick, and I want it to last a while.I have a Silver Bullet, so I already had the 18650 batteries this modtakes, which means less different parts, which means less clutter! Ilike these batteries because I can get 3 – 3 ½ days usage out ofthem. I'm not a terribly heavy vaper, mind you, but even the heaviestof vapers I've seen report at least a full day or two out of them.

You can't beat the convenience ofhaving 510 connectors, in my opinion. It just seems to be the mostreadily available as far as attys and cartos are concerned. This is apowerful little mod. I've tried it with a tank, various cartos, and acouple attys, and it performs very very well with each of them. Mypreference at the moment is these Kanger cartos, which I bought fromhttp://www.nicfitnation.com/and it's what I've got on the mod in most of the photos.

The price! This is, I think right now,the most affordable for the quality. This is an extremely well made,all handcrafted, natural wood box at the low end for $45, and at thehigh end $55 for the mod itself. And they guarantee their work, so ifyou have any questions, complaints, it needs to be replaced, you needparts or pieces, any small or large issue, just email them and theywill totally work with you. And they'll be glad to do it, they'rejust that sort of people.

There are a couple things I've noticedthat may be an issue, but I haven't found them to be a problempersonally. First is there's no indicator light. I don't find thisproblematic because the mods I have (none of which are digital, Imight add), including the eGo, don't give me any warning until thebattery is already dead anyway. So if it seems to misfire, and I tryit again and still no vapour, I know I need to change/charge thebattery. Maybe it's just because I got used to this from using theSB, but I don't find it to be of concern at all.

Second is the button does stick out.The potential could exist for it accidentally being set off in yourpocket or purse. It's not a major concern I have, however, becausethere is good resistance on the button, and my purse has a pocketdedicated to my ecigs where nothing will bang it around. It takes agood push to fire it, so unless you're really rough with it, or liketo throw things around carelessly, it shouldn't be a problem youencounter often, if at all.

Something else to watch for is if yourhigh-energy working dog is trained to retrieve and/or carry variousitems, as mine is (she's working hard on becoming my service dog, thepoor dear), she may mistake it for one of her wooden toys you'recarrying around and follow you with much interest for a while. Sheseems to be getting the hint though. I still wouldn't leave it inreach lol.

It's become my main go-to mod at home.It's very affordable, performs very well, is beautiful, and extremelywell made. I plan to purchase another in the future, in fact. Nowthat I love this one, I want the short style (because it also takesthe 18650 batts) in oak. This is definitely something I recommendgiving a go. Good job, guys!

http://ecigworkshop.com/

Goodreads.com

2011-10-06T08:35:00.000-04:00

Go Finland!

2011-07-21T14:14:00.003-04:00

Read about How Finland Became an Educational Leader by de-emphasizing testing.

The Finland Phenomenon

"Finland’s education system has consistently ranked among the best in the world for more than a decade. The puzzle is, why Finland? Documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton, along with Harvard researcher, Dr. Tony Wagner, decided to find out. The result of their research is captured in a new film, "The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System". In the 60-minute film, Dr. Wagner guides the viewer through an inside look at the world’s finest secondary education system. A life-long educator and author of the best-selling book"The Global Achievement Gap," Dr. Wagner is uniquely qualified to explore and explain Finland’s success. From within classrooms and through interviews with students, teachers, parents, administrators and government officials, Dr. Wagner reveals the surprising factors accounting for Finland’s rank as the #1 education system in the world."

My new "thing"

2011-07-19T17:31:00.004-04:00

E-cigs, or Electronic Cigarettes. Though that term doesn't seem to quite fit now that I've glimpsed into the sub-culture. I prefer the term "PV" (Personal Vaporizer).

Calling them Electronic Cigarettes has brought forth the anti-smoking revolutionists swinging their ban-hammers in an attempt to banninate them simply for the word "cigarette" in the name. Health Canada can't quite figure out how to tax the living hell out of them, seeing as they aren't a tobacco product, and has opted to swing their ban-hammer on nicotine juice and warn the masses about how many forms of grotesque diseases could happen.

I'm not going to go on and on about the finer details of what e-cigs are. You all have google. But for all you tl;dr google-challenged folks, it's essentially a cylindrical device that consists of a battery, an atomizer, and a cartridge (or just a battery + cartomizer). Battery powers it (duh), atomizer heats up the juice, and the cartridge holds said juice (or in the case of a cartomizer, it holds the juice AND heats it into vapor). The juice is made of either vegetable glycerin (VG), propylene glycol (PG), or a combination of the 2 in varying percentages, flavor, and (if desired) nicotine.

And because nothing is EVER good enough, we also have mods, or modifications. You have your box mods, your tube mods, your wtf mods... They're designed to do things like enhance battery performance, vapor production, amount of liquid stored, things of that nature.

The most common seem (to me) to be box mods (more "cottage industry" home-job mods) and tube mods (more popular with manufacturers). Box mods, I find, make it look like you're walking about sucking on a walkie talkie... But now I'm rambling.

I bought what's known as the 510 kit with all the fixins. Upon finding it much more preferable to smoking and switching 100% to vaping, I ran face-first into it's fatal flaw: Battery life. It has none. Well... very little. When I compare my vaping habits to others on the e-cigarette forum, I'm not a terribly heavy vaper, and I still go through 2-3 charges/day or more of the 510 battery. Luckily, I have the usb passthrough and that's saved the batteries from excessive wear and tear, as I just use that most of the day, and in the car I have a usb-car adapter thingy. But I still steal analogs off my smoking buddies while I'm out now and then because the battery died or I'm not near a charge source...

The only logical solution was to shop for a mod that fits all my 510 parts. This way nothing is wasted (I'm broke, I don't like wasting things!). So I've spent the last 3 weeks reading reviews and trolling forums, and now that my eyes are about to bug out of my face, I've finally made my decision, and tomorrow will be ordering my first ever mod! It's a tube mod, but that's all I'm saying. I'm gonna take lots and lots of pictures of all my goodies once it arrives and that'll be the next post!

The Price of Off-Season Tomatoes

2009-04-01T13:01:00.000-04:00

A good reason to eat seasonal foods!

Garden Update!

2009-03-30T13:40:00.003-04:00

I was hoping to have pictures to accompany this update so I've been putting it off. But I STILL can't find the computer cord for my cell, which is how I take pictures. Totally lame, it's been weeks, I kept hoping it would turn up.

Most of my veggies have sprouted, which is very exciting! The weather is still mostly hanging around below freezing, so the plants don't get outside too much, so hopefully they'll keep growing without direct sunlight!

So far poking out of the ground we have beefsteak tomatoes, balcony tomatoes, lettuce, sweet peppers, beans, peas, oregano, basil, onion, chives, dill, a couple varieties of morning glory (it's okay, we don't have the type of climate they can over-winter in, so they won't overtake and kill us all!), and a sunflower. I also bought yearling raspberry and blueberry plants that I've got in over sized pots that I'll winter in the garage and plant next year.

Still waiting on germination we have another variety of onion, strawberries, spearmint (tinytinytiny seeds that I accidentally spilled a TON of in the container, so we'll see what happens there!), cucumbers, cilantro, more sweet and hot peppers, rosemary, and a small variety of container carrots.

The kiddo also convinced me to try to germinate some cacti just for kicks. Big giant seed packet was $1 and I already had cactus soil on hand, so figured what the hell?

I didn't expect to get this much success, honestly, and have serious doubts that my garden will be ready to plant this year. And even if it is I'm not sure I"ll even be able to, since I may be getting a puppy this summer (still have one of my dogs, but he wouldn't dig up a garden) and in all likelihood will have my friend's 3 (possibly 4) dogs living with me for an undetermined amount of time. Bull Terriers who would take much joy in making a giant mess of vegetable crops!

But on the plus side all of these veggies are either container-gardening varieties, or container-tolerant. Or they'd grow in anything (*coughpeasandbeanscough*). So I'll probably have to buy more containers, but I just might have some homegrown veggies! If it goes well I can winter the plants in the garage and see what they do come springtime.

Outside I'm still not positive on what I want to grow. Some varieties of lettuce, a few tomato plants, cucumbers, onions. Even if I have to container-garden my whole crop this year, I'll definitely have the raised bed done and ready to go for next year. Depending on how successful I am with which crops I'll make my decision on what to grow next.

Sorry about not having photos! I'll keep trying to find that stupid computer cord and hopefully be able to show off my little crop!

2009-03-22T22:25:00.000-04:00

Most definitely worth a read

My Name is Sam

how does your garden grow?

2009-03-14T15:12:00.003-04:00

It's warm and sunny today, so I'm feeling ambitious! I've started this year's "garden"!

Okay, so I cheated and bought a "Salsa Garden" kit at Zellers that includes Beefsteak Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Cilantro, and Cayenne Peppers... I'm not terribly well versed in what I can grow with what where quite yet.

Last year I just kept potted herbs on the front deck until it got too cold and they were brought in. They didn't survive long indoors, most likely due both to the drastic temperature change from outside to in, and the total lack of direct sunlight in my house. I'd like to buy more herbs this year. Certainly more leafy basil, then probably some oregano and rosemary. I'll probably get another spearmint plant as well, for fresh mint tea.

I wish the snow would finally melt. It's March, I've had enough of winter now. But there's about 3+ feet of snow in the back yard still left to go before the ground can consider thawing and I can start turning the soil and considering how I want to landscape the backyard this year!

The year I started working on the back yard, this is what it looked like:

That crummy looking building to the left is the garage, not the house!

This is the following year, the summer before last:

and boy was cleaning that up ever a BIG job. First we had to pull out about a million shoots. There's a root system from this ancient enormous tree that a neighbor tells me was ancient and mostly dead when he moved in when he was in his 20's, and this is an elderly retired man, and off that root system comes these baby sucker trees, and are they ever a pain in the ass!

Then we had to take a few rounds out of the yard with a weed whacker. The yard is HUGE so that took about a couple weeks to get through. Afterwards we tackled the bigger weeds with a spade, like the clumps of rhubarb all over the yard, and when that was finally done we took out the rest with the mower. By then it had started snowing, so we actually didn't finish until the following summer, when that picture was taken. You can see a couple of the trees were taken down as well. There were just too many trees, and they're ugly little sucker trees. I'm actually probably going to take more down and plant a nice oak and/or maple. There are two older trees, a silver birch and another I have no idea what kind, I'll leave those.

And finally last year, this was taken in the fall when were ALMOST finished putting up that fence:

Same perspective as the other pictures, but taken from the bottom of the deck stairs rather than the top, so the garage isn't in the shot. The lawn needed mowing (how embarrassing!) so it isn't as pretty as I suppose it should be! You can see more persistent sucker trees coming up under that tree to the left in the picture. The 4 trees you see in that picture I'm considering taking them all down and that's where I'd put the oak and maple. Much nicer trees. I'd probably put the oak at the back and the maple to the side.

But I'm not sure what else I want to do back there. It's missing something, I just don't know what. I'm terrible at landscaping! And I need something relatively low maintenance that can stand up to the dogs and the kiddo! Maybe I'll put a couple giant rocks back there? It's such a large space, I just don't know! I'm open to suggestions!

2009-03-04T15:21:00.002-05:00

In a genuine attempt to save money I do my best to mostly pack lunches to school. This doesn't always happen. At the college it was no big deal, there were many options that I could totally justify paying for because it was so freaking cheap. And if I didn't want to spend more than $5 for a full meal, I could wander over to Chef Training and fill myself full of weird and wonderful dishes for even less than that! And even at the uni, if I don't manage to eat before getting here, I'm never here that long, so I can just wait and eat later.

But, sometimes I fail at life and I NEED to eat something. Problem is that there aren't a whole lot of options for someone who's gluten free and doesn't eat much meat. Everything's fried and deep fried, there aren't even any salad options! Srsly, I tried to order a salad once. Had to specify that a salad is just "a wrap without the tortilla".

This morning I NEEDED something to eat I just could not find energy. So I grab a little plastic cup of peaches. These are canned peaches taken out of the can and put in a little plastic cup! And a bottle of iced tea.

My total? Nearly $6.

For nearly $6 I could have gotten bacon, eggs, some potato looking product (they say they're hash browns, but I'm not convinced) and toast, most of which I can't eat, the rest upsets my stomach it's so greasy and heavy. And with that a medium coffee, which is freaking disgusting, I've never had such awful coffee. Somehow this is of lesser value than canned freaking peaches and iced tea.

Sandwiches and wraps are almost double the cost of hamburgers and chicken burgers. Veggies and dip are almost double the cost of fries with gravy, fruit and cheese trays cost more than onion rings.

Milk, juice, and iced tea costs more than pop/soda, and the soup of the day ALWAYS has so much sodium in it I get headaches. And I'm a pretty big salt eater, so that's saying a lot.

And it's not like a person could just up and go somewhere else. The closest thing to us is a Subway (sandwich place, in case you aren't familiar) and it's a 45 minute or longer walk, the bus doesn't go by it, and even driving there takes a while because you have to go all the way around a fairly large residential area to get to it.

I know people are probably thinking "just pack your damn lunch". Mostly yeah, I probably should. But what about the people who live in residence? They aren't even allowed to have hotplates in their rooms, they DEPEND on this cafeteria. What about people like me who do their best to brown-bag it but sometimes don't manage for one reason or another? You'd think in a building of higher education that we'd be a little beyond only having deep fried garbage with sugary syrup to wash it down.

I'll be writing a letter to my student union, I think.

Got Time To Kill?

2009-03-04T10:23:00.001-05:00

2009-02-08T13:21:00.002-05:00

I bought a new water bottle yesterday! It's the pink one. Before I'd just keep reusing those plastic ones until they were all broken, then I'd buy a new case of water bottles. Totally lame and much less eco-friendly, considering we have perfectly drinkable tap water!

Fun facts about my Kerplunk Stainless Steel Water Bottle taken from their site:

kerplunk Your Health!

Save your health by avoiding plastic. Kerplunk is completely BPA-free. No plastic here! Kerplunk bottles are made of 100% recyclable, high-quality, food grade stainless steel so they do not need an epoxy (plastic) lining like aluminum bottles.

kerplunk Your Cash!

Kerplunk bottles are well priced. There is no need to charge excessive prices for a simple stainless steel bottle. More importantly, you should not have to pay astronomical prices to protect your health and the health of your family. Also, you can save your money with our reusable stainless steel bottles instead of buying single use bottled water like Dasani or Aquafina.

kerplunk the Environment!

Save the environment by choosing reusable stainless steel over single use plastic bottled water. Visit you local municipal garbage transfer station and you will be astonished when you see all the plastic bottles. Those bottles are headed for a landfill site!

Kerplunk bottles are made from 300 series austenitic stainless steel. We use an extremely durable yet lightweight gauge for a maximum weight to strength ratio. No one wants to carry a heavy water bottle yet it has to be durable. Kerplunk is the best of both worlds.

Did you know that Kerplunk stainless steel…

Is one of the most hygienic surfaces for beverages and is very easy to clean because its unique surface has no pores or cracks to harbor dirt, grime or bacteria.
Looks great and requires minimal care because it will not chip or easily rust
It will not affect flavor and it does not react with acidic beverages (juice) or alcohol (beer!!...sweet beer…the nectar of life)
With proper care our stainless steel has a useful life expectancy of over 100 years and is totally recyclable.

kerplunk Manufacturing:

Kerplunk bottles are made to the highest of standards in three regions of the world. Depending on where you purchased your Kerplunk they are either manufactured in Mexico, India or China. All our production facilities are bound to our Code of Behavior which is enforced through regular random inspections.

So yay me for making another AWESOME decision! And isn't it pretty? I know you're all jealous.

Clutter!

2009-02-05T14:19:00.003-05:00

I have too much stuff. I have an entire basement full of stuff that for some reason I never wanted to get rid of, still don't want to get rid of. And a whole upstairs full of stuff I don't use or need! The house is ALWAYS a mess because there's nowhere to PUT anything!

I've been depressed lately. And I don't mean I've been sad, I mean looking back at the last few months I've been showing classic signs of clinical depression. I can't pinpoint what's going on or why, but there have been a lot of little things and big things and stressful things that have been happening in my life, and I think cumulatively it's had a very negative impact on my mental and emotional wellbeing. So I'm looking at everything, and ONE thing at a time, I'd like to improve the things around me.

SO!! It's time to *start* the process of decluttering. People are happier when they don't have junk everywhere! And this is, historically, a problem for me. I'm AWFUL for taking on BIG projects, then abandoning them partway through. Sometimes for good reasons. Sometimes not so much...

So I was reading about this 4-box-declutter method. One box is the Keep box, for things you're keeping, box #2 is the Trash, for things to be thrown out, box #3 is the Give Away box, for things going to charity or wherever else, and the 4th is for stuff that belongs elsewhere. This would kinda keep everything contained, so if I decide to wander off for whatever reason, I haven't created a DISASTER.

This brings us to my next problem. The amount of waste produced when I go on a cleaning spree! Some of it is unavoidable, sure, like stuff that should have been in the trash ages ago but never made it there (candy wrappers the kiddo manages to hide, stuff like that), but I need to come up with some sort of system to avoid just tossing everything. What can go in the recycle boxes, what can be donated, and the big one! Where should I donate?

Our closet space is laughable at best. I think I'm gonna find those closet organizers they have at Walmart & Zellers... like THESE. That'll prevent the overflow, seeing as there's no room for a dresser in my bedroom because I needed someplace to put my desk for school work. haha!

The kitchen I don't even know what to do with. I've hesitated to do anything at all because we'll be redoing it, so I've fallen into this awful "Oh don't worry about it, we're just tearing it up later" and have been doing that for the last 3 1/2 years. EEK! It's in rough shape. I think I'll get rid of any appliances/dishes I don't want/need and just leave it alone for now.

I don't even know if I'll manage to get through doing the bedroom, living room, and basement and here I am making plans to gut the whole house! haha! It's not even spring!

Wish me luck getting started this weekend!

Moi vs Reusable Hankies

2008-11-09T18:54:00.004-05:00

So I've been working at being more "green". There are quite a few day to day things that I've changed. I do my best to reduce the amount of waste I produce on a day to day basis. Ways I've done this have included re-usable products. I do my best to bring my reusable mug to the coffee shop, I keep 2-3 water bottles that I fill with our wonderfully drinkable tap water every day before going to class, and I even use alternative reusable menstrual products (more on that another time!).

To help get and stay informed on ways I can better lessen my carbon footprint, if you will, I've joined various online communities and forums about just that. Recently on one of these forums it was mentioned that people swear by cloth wipes.

While I'm guilty of keeping disposable Lysol wipes in stock in the house for things like one of the dogs having an accident, or to clean up after raw meat, for the most part I use cloth rags, dish clothes, and scrub brushes for cleaning and dishes and the like, so it didn't quite catch my attention...

...until someone mentioned using it in lieu of kleenex/tissue. Umm... gross. And I'll tell you why!

First off, your mucous? The stuff your body expels through your nose? Well it's often FULL of whatever viruses or bacteria you're carrying around with you. It's one of the place contagions come from! And people want to repeatedly reuse one of these throughout the day? That's really yucky.

Well lets say I just carry around a WHOLE bunch of them for single use. Right. So now I'm creating excess laundry. Laundry I probably should be washing in hot water (I do most of my laundry in cold). Facial tissue biodegrades very quickly and easily, and probably in a much more eco-friendly manner than excess hot water usage.

I figure kleenex is one of those areas that disposable is probably better than not.

Compost ftw!!

2008-10-29T16:11:00.005-04:00

Worm Composting

This is done with a particular species of worm known as Red Wigglers, or Eisenia fetida, if you wanna get all technical. It can also be done with European Nightcrawlers, but they are less efficient and more for people interested in raising and keeping bait worms.

There are a lot of ways to get real fancy with worm composting, but there are just as many ways to keep it simple and affordable. Just a small rubbermaid bin can accommodate a single person household. The bins themselves can be kept outdoors, so long as it's not too hot or too cold and not kept in direct sunlight, and because the waste is buried, there is virtually no smell. Perfect for apartments!

The down side is that worms are a little more picky about what you can and can't toss in there than you typical backyard bin, but when it's all you've got, it's all you've got! Certainly much much better than nothing and it will help eliminate waste. I have big plans on setting one up in the kitchen JUST for our tea bags and coffee grinds because we go through so. much. and worms go batty for that stuff!

Backyard Composting

This is for people in homes with access to a yard. It requires a larger container, your compost bin, and accomodates both kitchen scraps (your greens) and yard waste such as leaves and grass (your browns) in larger quantities, and more out of the way.

Easiest way to handle it is to keep a small-ish lidded container in the kitchen for your kitchen waste destined for the compost bin, then when that's full, take a trip out back! Be sure to turn the compost every so often. I think once/week is recommended, but it also depends on how much you put in week to week. I'd just go for giving it a little stir whenever the kitchen bin is tossed in.

Here is a handy little list of what you can and can't dump in your bin!

Pet Waste Composting

And finally, fellow pet owners, a more eco-friendly solution to pet waste! Although the end result can't be used in consumables such as fruits and veggies. Personally, I'm just thrilled to have all the dog sh!t out of the way without sneaking it to the curb! The fact that I can use it on my flowers is just gravy.

Making sure your doggy bags are biodegradable will really help too, because then you can pick it up with the baggy and just toss the whole thing in and you're done!